Printing-plane.



J. TOMLINSON.

PRINTING PLATE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10, 1914.

Patented Aug. 24, 1915.

JOSEPH TOMLINSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PRINTING-PLATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 24, 1915.

Application filed June 10, 1914-. Serial No. 844,114.

To all whom it may concern: 7 7

Be it known that I, JOSEPH TQMLINSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing-Plates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to printing devices and has more particular reference to print- .ing plates for addressing machines and the like.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved printing plate of this character which will be simple, durable and reliable in construction, effective and eflicient in operation and inexpensive to manufacture.

- hereinafter.

1 is a perspective view of a plurality of said plates arranged in a holding'galley or container.

In connection with addressing machines and the like it is customary to employ a large number of individual plates or printing devices, each of which are provided w1th type forming an individual name and address, or other character to be prlnted. These printing plates are usually stacked in a magazine and the machine takes them, from this magazine one by one and presses them against thearticles to be printed and then discharges them into another galley or magazine. It is also customary, when the printing plates are not in use in the magazme, to keep them in drawers or containers m a pile similar to the manner of a card index.

It is my purpose to provide an improved printing plate which will be so constructed that it will readily and conveniently stack or pile either in the magazines of the ad dressing machines or in the filing drawers or containers, and while a plurality of these plates are arranged in stack form the ind1- vidual plates will not become disarranged or out of stack alinement. I also provide an improved plate which is so constructed that a plurality of said plates may be placed in a galley or drawer and may be handled as Other objects of my invention will appear a unit while transferring said plates from the filing cabinets to and from the machine.

In the drawings, particularly in Figs. 1 and 2, I illustrate an individual plate of my improved construction which, in its preferred form, is in the shape of a rectangular elongated .fiat piece of sheet metal A. This plate is preferably blocked out from a blank sheet or piece of metal and from one face of this plate the type B or other characters to be printed rise, the type being formed in any suitable manner, such asv by striking them up integrally from the body of the plate by means of suitable stamping dies. These plates referably' have their longitudinal edges C turned over on to one face of the late so as to formbeads or ribs. These e ge portions C are preferably turned over on to the face .of the Iplate opposite to that from which the type rise, and the extreme edges C are preferably pressed down extremely close to the face of the plate so that they will not catch in the adjacent plate when a plurality of said plates are ina stack or pile. ,These ribs 0 not only finish ofi the edges of the plates but they also considerably strengthen the plates so that they will be able to stand the pressure incident to the printing operations. In addition to these ribs I also provide another set of parallel ribs D which are preferably formed by striking up beads from the body of the plate itself. These ribs are preferably formed up on the type side of the plate and of course are slightly less than type high in order'not to make an impression when the types are pressed against the article to be printed. These ribs are preferably spaced some distance from and parallel with the edges C, and the purpose of this is to prevent the plates from getting out of alinement when the plates are in a stack. It is understood, of course, that the galleys or magazines of the addressing machines are so constructed that they allow a slight clearance between the plates and the walls of the galley for the purpose of permitting the plates to be freely entered and removed and shifted along said galleys, and at the same time keep them in substantial stacked relation. The clearance above mentioned between the plates and the galley walls, which is necessary to allow them this freedom of movement, is often too great to prevent the plates from shifting relatively to no tively to the adjacent plate in the stack its ribscooperate with the ribs C of the adjacent plate to prevent too great a relative movement between said plates so that when a force is applied to said shifted plate to ,restore it to alinement with the rest of said plates no difficulty will be encountered. I

As before mentioned, the plates are usually kept in a file cabinet until they are ready to be used in the addressing machine, and it is customary to stand the plates on edge, as illustrated in Fig. 4. It has been found that considerable difliculty is encoun Y tered in keeping the plates in such order that a person Wishing to find a particular address or a particular plate in a group can go over said plates in the drawer or cabinet Without upsetting their arrangement or affecting the relative position of the plates. In Fig. at I have illustrated a galley or container E portable in character andhaving. the form of a long shallow trough orchannel, the Walls of which are formed preferably of sheet metal. The plates are arranged edgewi'se in this galley or container, the interior of which is somewhat wider than the length of a plate so as to allow clearance for free dom of movement as indicated at F. In order to insure the plates remaining substantially edg'ewise in said galley, even though there are a comparatively few plates therein and consequently plates loosely stacked, I turn in the edge portions C of the Walls of said container so that said edge portions lie in a plane substantially horizontal and parallel with the bottom wall of the container.

each end thereof, the notches preferably being rectangular in form and so proportioned with respect to the dimensions of the galley ported on these edge portions G and there will be some clearance between the lower edges of the plates and the bottom wall of the galley. It will thus be seen that each In addition to this I con-v struct each of the plates with a notch H at plate is individually supported substantially on edge in the galley and at the same time is effectively locked in the galley against accidental displacement, although it may be removed by turning it at a sufficient 7g angle with respect to the galley flanges G as for instance illustrated by the plate J in Fig. 4. The clearance between the plates and the galley, however, is sufficient to allow the plates to lie on said inturned edges of 15 the galley at an angle from the vertical, as illustrated by the plate K in Fig. 4, and thus allow them to be freely moved considerably so that a person may finger the several plates in search of a particular plate just the same 3.

as in a card index.

It is obvious to-those skilled in the art, after having obtained an understanding of my invention from the disclosures herein made, that my invention may be modified g5 without departing from the scope and spirit thereof, and I wish it to be so understood. What I claim is: 1. An improved printing plate comprising a plate having beads struck up therein above 9 its upper surface, said beads being spaced from the longitudinal edges of the plate, and the edge portions of the plate being bent and disposed on the under side of the plate with the lower side of the bent edge portions disposed in the same general directions as the outer portions of the under sides of the beads.

2. An improved printing plate comprising a plate having type and beads struck up 1 00 therein above its upper surface, said beads being spaced from the longitudinal edges of the plate and slightly lower than the type, and the edge portions of the plate being bent and disposed on the under side of the plate with the extreme edges thereof engaging the lower side of the plate at the outer edges of the beads, and the lower sides of the bent portions being disposed in the same general directions as the outer portions of the lower sides of the heads.

3. An improved printing plate comprising a rectangular plate having parallel beads struck up from one side thereof, and a notch in each of its ends adjacent one of the beads,

with the edges of said notches being adapted to support and lock the plate on a supporting member, said beads being spaced from the edges of the plate, and the portion of the plate between the beads and the edges thereof being bent substantially medially thereof, and disposed on-the side of the plate opposite said beads.

4. An improved plate comprising a flat rectangular plate of sheet metal havin parallel longitudinal integral ribs forme up on one side of said plate and spaced from the edges of the plate, integral type struck upon the same side of said plate between said ribs and slightly higher than said ribs,

integral ribs on the opposite side of said plate formed by turning over the longitudinal edge portions on to the said side of the said plate, and notches out in the ends of b said plate nearer to one longitudinal edge portion than to the other.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 8th day of June, A. D. 1914.

JOSEPH TOMLIN SON Witnesses:

CHARLES H. SEEM, EDGAR FRANCIS BEAUBIEN. 

